testontestoonn.
/ˈtɛstən//tɛˈstuːn/ Obsolete exc. Historical.
1. originally. The French name of a silver coin struck at Milan by Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1468–76), bearing a portrait or head of the duke, and called in Italian testone; then of the similar coin struck by Louis XII after his conquest of Milan, for currency in Italy, and by Francis I (1515–47) for use in France. Both in Italy and France, the name was soon applied to equivalent silver coins without a portrait; but always to pieces heavier than the gros.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > European silver coins
teston1545
rix-dollar1589
ducaton1611
florin1716
Reichsthaler1757
1545 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 2 All smaller peces sik as halff testanys and halff soussis be taken efter the quantite of the prices forsaidis.
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) 191 In syluer they [the French] haue testons, which be worth halfe a Frenche crowne; it is worth .ii. s. .iiii. d. sterlyng.
1579 J. Stubbs Discouerie Gaping Gulf sig. Cvij He [Monsieur] is not able to dropp halfe testons for king Phillip's pistelas.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 185 I payed [in France] two testoones and a halfe for a paire of shooes.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 288 Those of Solothurn..coyne a peece of mony, which the Sweitzers call Dickenpfenning, and the French call Testoone, but it is lesse worth by the tenth part then the Testoone of France.
1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 7 This Money of theirs [the Dutch]..chiefly consists of Crowns, Half-Crowns, Testons or Eighteen-penny pieces, and pieces of Fifteen Sous.
1901 tr. V. Hugo Hunchback of Notre Dame xxvii. 275 To gain a few testons in his turn [he] was parading round the circle.
2. † b. A name for the sixpenny piece; = tester n.3† c. Proposed name for a suggested new coin of the value of 1s. 3d. Obsolete.
a. In England, A name applied first to the shilling of Henry VII, being the first English coin with a true portrait; also to those of Henry VIII, and early pieces of Edward VI. It was declared in 1543 to be equal to 12 pence, but being of debased metal it sank successively to 10d., 9d., and 6d., and was recalled in 1548. Subsequently those still in circulation were rated even lower: see quotations 15601 and 1630.There appear also to have been counterfeit testons, difficult to distinguish from the debased coinage of Henry VIII, and valued in 1560 at 41/ 2d. and 21/ 4d. Quot. 15602 refers to the red or ‘brazen’ colour of the debased testons.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > shilling
s.1387
solidus?a1475
shilling1533
teston1543
twelvepence1563
bord1567
twelvepenny piece1594
sh.1607
hog1673
twelver1699
she-lion1744
grunter1785
twalpenny worth1786
bob1789
pega1790
tower shilling1800
little shilling1826
deaner1839
rogue and villain1857
stag1857
hole1934
1543 Mint Indenture (P.R.O. Exch r. Accts. Bundle 306, No. 2 ) Shall make sixe maner of monys of sylver That is to saye oone piece of theym called a Teston running for xijd. of lawfull monye of Englande and there shalbe xlviij suche pieces of theym in the pownde weight of troye.
1548 Proclam. Edward VI conc. Callyng in Testons 10 Apr. (single sheet) The falsyng of his highnes coyne, nowe current, specially of the peces of xii.d. commonly named Testons.
1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 3rd Serm. sig. Gii Thy syluer is turned into, what? into testions? Scoriam, into drosse.
1560 Royal Proclam. in Arch. Bodl. F. c. 11 lf. 30 For discernyng and knowyng of the basest Testons of two pence farthing, from thother Teston of foure pence halfpeny.
1560 J. Heywood Fourth Hundred Epygrams lxiii. sig. Bivv Of Testons. Testones be gone to Oxforde, god be their speede: To studie in Brasennose there to proceede... [lxiv.] Of redde Testons. These Testons looke redde:..they blushe for shame.
1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 1709/1 In the moneth of Iuly [1551]..he abased the peece of .xij. pence, commonly called a teston, vnto nine pence.
1592 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 527/1 Ordanis the inglis testane to haue cours heireftir wtin this realme vpoun the pryce of viii s. [Scotch].
1630 R. Norton tr. W. Camden Hist. Princesse Elizabeth i. 48 Reducing..the Teston of sixe pence to foure pence, another Teston to two pence farthing, for more siluer there was not in them.
1752 T. Carte Gen. Hist. Eng. III. 229 This gentleman [Sir W. Sharington, an. 1549] had coined a vast quantity of testons, of a base alloy and under standard.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > sixpence
tester1560
half-shilling1561
teston1577
mill sixpence1592
crinklepouch1593
sixpencea1616
testrila1616
piga1640
sice1660
Simon1699
sow's-baby1699
kick1725
cripple1785
grunter1785
tilbury1796
tizzy1804
tanner1811
bender1836
lord of the manor1839
snid1839
sprat1839
fiddler1846
sixpenny bit or piece1897
zac1898
sprasey1905
1577 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) ii. xxv. i. 362 Six pence vsuallie named the testone.
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor iii. iv. sig. H2 You cannot giue him lesse then a shilling..,for the booke..cost him a teston at the least. View more context for this quotation
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > suggested coin of 1 or 3d
teston1695
1695 J. Locke Further Considerations conc. Raising Value of Money 87 The present Shilling, and new Testoon going for 15 Pence.
1695 W. Lowndes Rep. Amendm. Silver Coins 63 One other Piece which may be called the Testoon, or Fifteen Peny Piece.
3. Name of a Scottish silver coin bearing a portrait of Mary Stuart, issued in 1553, and weighing about 76 grains; also applied to coins of the same weight, without the portrait, struck in 1555.
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1566 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 441 He sall..pay for his absence ane testane.
1577 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. II. 616 His Hienes awin silver money of testanis and xxx, xx, and ten schilling pecis.
1583–4 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1882) IV. 322 The payment of ane thowsand pund in Scottis fyue schilling testanes.
1621 Compt Bk. D. Wedderburne (S.H.S.) 171 Promisit him a mark for ilk testane he advances thairon.
4. The Portuguese testão or tostão, a silver coin first coined by Manoel I, c1500, and weighing 122 grains; in 1911 = 100 reis, weighing 51.6 grains, and worth about 2½d. Also an obsolete Italian coin.
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1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies i. xxxv. 68/2 Pardaus Xeraphiins..which is as much as three Testones, or three hundred Reijs Portingall money.
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. i. xlviii. 160 I saw the Prince of Sulmona at Naples..shew all maner of horse-man-ship; To holde testons or realles vnder his knees.
1677 W. Badcock Touch-stone Gold & Silver Wares 114 Portugal Teston.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) (at cited word) The Testoon of Portugal is worth 1s. 3d. Of Spain and Navarre 1s. 8d. Of Switzerland 1s. 4d. Of Italy 1s. 4d.
1717 G. Berkeley Jrnls. Trav. Italy 17 Jan. in Wks. (1955) VII. 255 The owner of the horse gave him a testoon.
1740 H. Walpole Let. to R. West 16 Apr. What the chief princes [in Italy] allow for their own eating is a testoon a day.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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